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Banjar fire, September 2018 Banjar, Barito Kuala

Out · last measured on 9 Oct 2018

The fire started on 25 September 2018 in Banjar, Indonesia, and satellites saw it burning for 15 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 6,473 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 7th largest in South Kalimantan since 2016 (of 99 with a page). Number 11 in Indonesia in 2018, of 110.

We have the GWIS perimeter for this fire, but the VIIRS sensors did not capture it in enough detail: no day-by-day evolution, but the split by municipality is there.

Burnt area
6,473ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
15days
25 Sept 2018 – 9 Oct 2018
Municipalities hit
2
regencies
Started on
25 Sept
2018
Danger at start
14
Moderate · FWI index

Where it burned

The weather it burned in

37°high
38km/h · peak gust
29%lowest humidity

It had gone 5 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 2.6 mm on 11 Oct.

This area had burned before

3% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 191 ha in 2017.

What happened to each town

  1. Banjar where it started
    6,374 ha
    1.3 %
  2. Barito Kuala
    142 ha
    0.1 %

Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the GWIS perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance is from the town centre to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.

The weather day by day

ECMWF ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, the standard reference for past weather, and the Canadian Fire Weather Index (the same system Copernicus uses), computed by WorldFires from that data. Days after the fire run until the first rain.

Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
25 Sept 35.0 °C 38 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
26 Sept 34.5 °C 43 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
27 Sept 34.8 °C 37 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
28 Sept 35.0 °C 39 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
29 Sept 36.1 °C 39 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
30 Sept 34.8 °C 51 % 27 km/h 0.7 mm Moderate 13
1 Oct 36.1 °C 37 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
2 Oct 35.8 °C 39 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
3 Oct 37.0 °C 29 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
4 Oct 37.2 °C 29 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
5 Oct 36.1 °C 38 % 27 km/h 0.1 mm High 24
6 Oct 33.8 °C 46 % 31 km/h 2.8 mm Low 7
7 Oct 34.9 °C 47 % 29 km/h 0.5 mm Moderate 15
8 Oct 33.6 °C 44 % 35 km/h 8.3 mm Very low 2
9 Oct 34.7 °C 41 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
10 Oct after 35.0 °C 42 % 25 km/h 0.7 mm Moderate 14
11 Oct after 35.1 °C 35 % 31 km/h 2.6 mm Low 7

Before and after, from space

Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.

Before · 18 Sept 2018
After · 16 Oct 2018

If the day is cloudy, change the date: each satellite passes once a day. In false colour the burnt ground looks brown or red.

Other fires nearby

All fires in Indonesia ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Banjar fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 25 September 2018 and 9 October 2018: 15 days between the first and last heat detection of the perimeter.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 6,473 hectares (64.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Banjar (6,374 ha, 1.3 %); Barito Kuala (142 ha, 0.1 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 37.2 °C, humidity dropped to 29 % and gusts hit 38 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 27, class High.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Indonesia (geoBoundaries). It is not an official report.

Where to verify it

A satellite detection is not an official report. Final figures and the fire’s status are published by each country’s emergency service.

Emergency number: 112

Satellite cross-check

Does something look wrong on this page?

This page is built from satellite data and official records, and it sometimes gets things wrong: the wrong dates, the wrong town, two fires merged into one, or something that was not a wildfire at all. If you know this fire first-hand (you live nearby, saw it, fought it or reported on it), tell us what really happened and we will check it.

Report an error
What do you think is wrong?

We will only use your email to reply about this report. Privacy. This is not an emergency service: if there is a fire now, call 112.

Where this data comes from

The perimeter comes from the Copernicus Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS), which rebuilds it from MODIS and VIIRS heat detections and publishes it under CC BY 4.0. It is not measured on imagery as in Europe, so it is an estimate. Heat detections come from the VIIRS sensors aboard Suomi-NPP and NOAA-20, distributed by NASA FIRMS at 375 m resolution. Municipal boundaries come from geoBoundaries ADM2 (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Intergovernmental Organisations (CC BY 3.0 IGO)). The area per municipality is computed by WorldFires by crossing the perimeter with those boundaries, so it may differ from each country’s official figure.